Niranjana, Melissa and Andy Perdue

Not 30 minutes after the previous blog item, my daughter informed me she was hungry. Yes, it's 9:50 p.m.

For lunch she ate two hot dogs (no buns) and an 8 oz. yogurt. Dinner: Two entire pieces of pizza and a banana. And now she's asked for two hard-boiled eggs. Breakfast was a banana and graham crackers. And I know she had two healthy snacks at preschool.

Maybe I better exchange those shoes I just bought her for the next size up?

For the record, after being home for 10 months, Niranjana now officially is:

35.5 pounds — that's 5.5 pounds heavier (in her socks).

40 inches — that's 3.5 inches taller, although it feels like 4 inches! Niranjana says she's going to grow bigger and bigger, up to the sky.

I cleared out most of her 3T clothes the other day. Some 3T stuff still fits — and she's still discovering some of it, like a sparkly butterfly shirt — but we've been buying 4T for a while now.

I'm always on the lookout for developmentally appropriate toys that might actually be played with. So I noticed during the evening "free play" at preschool that Niranjana liked a marble maze toy. Sort of like Legos or Tinkertoys, except you build a marble run.

We went on the hunt for the "marble ball game" the other week. Couldn't find it at Fred Meyer, not at Target. A lesson in patience ensued.

We had two birthday parties Saturday. The first was at 11 a.m. at the Richland Fire Department's main station on GW Way and Swift. The second was a "bring your swimsuit for sprinklers" at 3 p.m. at a Richland home.

Leif's fire station party scored high for all the kids, but the surprise at Zoe's house overshadowed those big red trucks and friendly firefighters. It was a twisty water slide! http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2918314

Zoe's family had borrowed this from a friend. Given the price tag and the mixed reviews, I won't be investing in one of our own.

Niranjana still likes Little Einsteins, but it isn't at the same level of obsession as it was two months ago. I am, however, tiring of her current interest in "bad guys," including Jafar and Gaston. There is something wrong with singing "kill the Beast" on the way to preschool.

One of Niranjana's best friends just got home from vacation in Alaska. While he was gone, she got stuck on a lame Disney home video "Return of Jafar," in which the Genie from Aladdin returns from vacation having seen the world.

So I shouldn't have been surprised this week when Niranjana's new teachers asked if we were planning to go to India soon. Thinking it was an inquiry into our future family plans, I hesitated.

I received an American Girl catalog in the mail today. These are amazing dolls and story books, with accessories and outfits that call to the little girl in me. It's not just tea parties and kitty-cats. American Girls have adventures, play soccer, work as reporters, and more.

Since Niranjana isn't showing much interest in dolls these days, and American Girls are intended for kids age 8, guess I'll have to wait a few years before I get to place any orders at www.americangirl.com.

Which American Girl are you?

Nikitha's parents leave today from Seattle to bring her home from the Guild of Service Foundling Home in Chennai. This 2-year-old girl has a big week ahead of her, and her parents hopefully enjoyed their last "Independence" day.

This new family is in our prayers.

Being that it's a summer holiday, I made iced coffee this morning. Niranjana snuck a taste and immediately requested her own. As I was still having my own coffee, I wasn't in the mood to argue. So I grabbed the decaf espresso and decided it was an opportunity to get some milk in her tummy. Well, it was fat-free half-and-half, but I'll get a carton of 2% at the store for the next go-round.

Her first coffee drink: short decaf sugar-free vanilla nonfat breve, iced.

After all of that, she drank maybe one-third of it. At least it shouldn't stunt her growth!

It's not uncommon for Niranjana to have marker and paint all over her by the end of the school day. Today I commented on a small, horizontal purple squiggle on her left bicep.

"That's my tattoo," Niranjana says.

Oh my! She is re-enacting her father's recent acquisition of a tattoo: Niranjana's name in her birth language of Tamil. It has been much discussed at our house as an item of father-daughter bonding. The video of the tattoo process can be found at http://www.atomictown.com/at/read/bethany/story/9729346p-9644423c.html. No, Niranjana and I were NOT there when this occurred.